CEYX TEIDACTYLA. 



(THE INDIAN THREE-TOED KINGFISHER.) 



Alcedo tridactyla, Pall. Spic. Zool. vii. p. 10, pi. 11. fig. 1 (1769). 



Ceyx tridactyla, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 84 ; Jerdon, 111. Ind. Orn. pi. 25 (1847); Kelaart, 



Prodromus, Cat. p. 118 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xiii. p. 172; 



Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 229 (1862); Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 270; id. Mon. Alced. 



pi. 40, p. 119 (1868-71); Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 424; Hume, Str. Feath. 1874, 



p. 173, et 1875, p. 51, et 1876, p. 287 ; Inglis, ibid. 1877, p. 19. 

 Alcedo erythaca, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 449 (1788). 

 Ceyx erythaca, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. no. 220, p. 50 (1849). 

 Ceyx microsoma, Jerd. Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 1840, xi. p. 231. 

 Martin Pecheur de Pondicherry, Buff. PL Enl. 778. fig. 2. 



The Three-toed Kingfisher, Europeans in Ceylon ; The Pinang Kingfisher, Sharpe, Mon. Alced. 

 Bein-nygeen, Arracan ; Bajaiohodan, Malay (Blyth). 

 Punchi Ilal-pelihuduwa, Sinhalese. 



Adult male and female. Length 5-25 to 5-4 inches; wing 2-1 to 2-3; tail 09 ; tarsus 0-35 ; innermost toe and claw 

 0-65 : hind toe and claw 0-3 ; bill to gape 1-44 to 1*6, at front 1-3. Expanse 8-3. 



Iris brown; bill coral-red ; legs and feet coral-red, slightly paler than bill; claws yellowish. 



Head, hind neck, face, lower back, rump, and tail with the least wing-coverts and under whig rufous, overlaid on the 

 back, upper tail-coverts, and behind the eye with delicate shining lilac, and tinged with the same on the head : 

 upper back black, overlaid with a patch of brilliant cobalt-blue ; wings blackish brown ; a spot at the side of the 

 nape, a wash over the back and tertials, and edges of wing-coverts fine deep violet-blue ; beneath the nuchal spot a 

 white streak ; forehead edged with deep blue at the bill ; eyelid and a spot in front of eye black ; outer web of 1st 

 primary and edge of winglet, inner margins of quills, and base of secondaries pale cinnamon ; chin, throat, and 

 centre of abdomen flavescent whitish ; rest of under surface saffron-yellow, shaded with rufous on the flanks. In 

 some specimens the centre of the head wants the violet tinge, this part being plain rufous ; others, probably not 

 adult, have the tail tipped dark. 



Obs. Ceylonese examples are identical in character with Indian and Malaccan. A Pegu specimen, recorded in ' Stray 

 Feathers,' measures 2-2 in the wing and 1*55 in the bill from gape ; another I have seen from Malacca, 2-3 in 

 the wing and l - 6 in the bill from gape. A male example, with a similarly large bill, I procured at Kanthelai : 

 but the average size of the bill in Ceylon specimens is about 1-45. Mr. Sharpe figures an example in his plate 

 ('Monog. Alced.') with a brown tail, and remarks that it may be sexual or a sign of immaturity ; it certainly is 

 not the former, as I have sexed males and females without any trace of dark colour in the tail ; and as to the 

 latter the nearest approach to a dark tail in what appeared to be a young bird, from the state of the organs, was a 

 dark tip of about -^j inch in depth to the centre tail-feathers. It seems not unreasonable to infer that the coloration 

 in the specimen figured by Mr. Sharpe was abnormal, and at the same time very remarkable. 



To many of my readers who are not well acquainted with this beautiful genus of Kingfishers, it may not be uninteresting 

 to peruse a short resume of its members, taken from Mr. Sharpe's magnificent ' Monograph of the Kingfishers,' 

 which I here give. Commencing with the species which ranges next to ours in its habitat, we have : — 



Ceyx rufidorsa, Strickland, P. Z. S. 1846, p. 99 ; Sharpe, Mon. Alced. pi. 41. Indo-Malayan region. 



Differs chiefly from C. tridactyla in having the back and wing-coverts of the same hue as the head, rump, and tail, which 

 are lilac-rufous. Wing 2-2. 

 Ceyx dillwynni, Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 591 ; id. Mon. Alced. pi. 43. Labuan. 



Larger than the above ; head, back, rump, and tail lilac-rufous ; scapulars black, washed with blue. Wing 2-4.3. 

 Ceyx sharpii, Salvad. Atti R. Accad. Tor. 1869, p. 463 ; Sharpe, Mon. Alced. pi. 42. Borneo. 

 Nearly all the upper surface brilliant Lilac-rufous, with a portion of the scapulars black, and the wing-coverts tipped 

 with blue. Wing 2-3. 



